The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1887-01-22
ABOUT MASSAGE.


A Popular Modern HygIenic Exerelsa
which Was Practiced Ages Ago.
Massage as hygienic agent was
praoticed from the earliest times and il
probably as old as surgery itself, or, as
it would be more exact to say, as old
as mankind. The word is derived from
the Greek s'to knead'' and the Arabic
ITO press softly" A Chinese manu-
script, the date Of whiehlis three thou
sand years before the Christian era,
contains an account of operations
similar to those of the present day;
friction, kneading; manipulating, roll
ing-alI the procedures now grouped
together under the name of massage.
The translator of this curious record, q
French missionary at Pekin, finds it to
include all the characteristics of an an
cient scientific mode of treatment; and
it has been wittily remarked that how
ever 1t may rejuvenate those who sub
NIT to its influence, the wrinkles of
time can not be removed from2its own
ancient visages With the Egyptians,
Greeks and Romans o. form OF massage
was the common accompanimen Of the
bath, and was used as q luxury, as a
means of fastening tedious GONZALES,
cence, and to render the limbs supple
and enduring. Rubbing and Amounting
were some times done by medical
practitioners themselves or by the
priests, or some times by slaves.
Herodicus, one of the masters Of
Hippocrates in the fifth century b. G.,
first proposed gymnastics as a cure for
disease. He was the superior officer
Of the gymnasium at Athens, and by
compelling his patients to undergo
various exercises and to have their
bodies rubbed is said to have length-
ened their lives, insomuch that Plato
reproached him for protracting that
existence in which, as years. advanced,
they could have less and less enjoys
ment. He himself, blythe practice 81
his own remedies, attained the
age of one hundred. The earliest
definite information regarding massage
comes from Hippocrafes, who says:
s'The physician must be experienced in
many things, but assrredly also in
rubbing; for things that have the same
name have not always the same effects,
for rubbing can bind a joint that is too
loose, and loosen a joint that is too
rigid" He also used the word anas
tripsis, the process Of rubbing mp, and
mot down. although not understanding
the reason of 1t, as it was not till five
hundred years later that Galeen point
ed out that the arteries were not filed
with air, as their nanle would seem to-
imply. Asclepiades was probably not
far wrong when he founded his school
at Rome ON the belief that diet. bath.
ing, exercise and friction should keep
the body without disease; and Cicero
affirmed that he owed as much oil his
health to his anointer as he did to his
physician. Plutarch tells us that Jus
Illus Cesar had himself pinched all
over daily as q means ofgetting rid Of
a general neuralg ia. CELSIUS, Ut the
beginning Of the Christian era, advised
that rubbing should be applied to the
whole body, ''wf1en an invalid requires
his whole system to be replenished; y
and Pliny availed himself OF mode Of
treatment which was evidently much
in fashion In his day, and derived sd
much benefit from the remedy, that ha
obtained for his physician, who was d
jew, the privileges Of Roman eitizenz
ship. 1t is related OF the Emperor
Hadrian that one day. seeing veteran
soldier rubbing himself against the
marble &C the public baths, he asked
him why he did So. The veteran am
swered: 81 have no slave to rub me-
Whereupon the Emperor gave him two
slaves and sufficient to maintain them.
It is quantity added to this story that
the next dav several old men rubbed
themselves against the wall in the Ehi-
peror's presence, when pereelving
their object, he shrewdly directed
them to rub one another e. Chambers
Journal. f8ta ft1Ht